Synopsis
Under the shade of a tree, Patrick and his Aunt Emily are painting pictures of a cornfield. As Patrick puts a yellow blob on his palette to paint the corn, a red squirrel runs into the field. When he puts down a red blob, a bluebird appears. Each page reveals a new color and a new creature, until Patrick’s palette is filled with colors and the field is filled with animals. This simple, vividly illustrated story invites children to spot each new creature as they learn about colors and how they are created.
Children's Literature
Patrick and Aunt Emily are painting a picture of a cornfield, adding and mixing new colors as animals visit the scene. When Easel the dog scatters the animals with his excited barking, Patrick and Aunt Emily think they will not get to use all the colors they made. In the end the animals return to the scene, making it colorful once again. This book uses large, vivid images to teach colors, color-mixing, and perhaps even animal names to young children. The bright illustrations feature recognizable animals with friendly expressions, and there are many interesting details to observe and discuss on each page. The cumulative list of colors and the structure of the text will prompt children to predict which colors will come next, and the end of the book features an illustrated chart to review color-mixing concepts. Simple wording and language make this introduction to colors easy to comprehend, but at times the text lacks the vibrancy of the colors it describes. Reviewer: Michele C. Hughes